Windows 7 Starter edition comes preinstalled on many netbooks and other portable computers. This light version of the Windows 7 operating system can perform most of the core functions of any other version, but with some limitations. One of the most vexing of these limitations for many Starter users is the inability to customize the look and feel of their system, especially their desktop wallpaper.

Enter Starter Background Changer, a program which allows Windows 7 Starter users to get around this particularly irritating issue. Once the software has been installed, a new command is added to the desktop context menu: Personalize. Users can then simply right click on their desktop, select Personalize and can then change their wallpaper, using any jpg, png or bmp file of their choice.

Starter Background Changer allows Windows 7 Starter users other customization features as well, allowing users to change their color scheme, screensavers and system sounds. For users who are satisfied enough with Windows 7 Starter to stick with the operating system but are annoyed by the inability to change their wallpapers, screensavers and sounds, this program offers an easy workaround.

The program does what it’s designed to do and is easy to use, but some users may be thrown off by the erratic translation (the program was created by a French developer); the installation process is completely untranslated, for instance. However, this shouldn’t discourage Windows 7 Starter users from trying what is otherwise exactly the solution that many users have long wished for.